Stair-rod and fastening therefor.



, PATENTBD APR. 28, 1903. I. v. MEAD & J. W. GIBSON. STAIR ROD AND FASTENING THEREFOR.

7 APPLICATION FILED JULY 22, 1902.

N0 MODEL.

WITNESSES.-

A TTORNEYS,"

mcrroN. 0. c.

, mi scams PETERS c0. PHOTO-LIYHO. WASH UNITED STATES ISAAC V. MEAD'AND JOHN XV.

PATENT OFFICE.

GIBSON, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

STAlR-ROD AND FASTENING THEREFOR.

SPECIFICATION formingpart of Letters Patent No. 726,723, dated April 28, 1903.

Application filed July 22, 1902.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, ISAAC V. MEAD and JOHN W. GIBs0N,citizens of the United States, residing at the city of New York, borough of Manhattan, in the county and State of New York, have invented a new and useful Im-' provement in Stair- Rods and Fastenings Therefor, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

The purpose of the invention is to provide a construction of stair-rods and fastening devices for the same, so that the rods and their fastening devices will be concealed by the carpet which the rods serve to hold in position where the'steps and risers of a staircase meet.

Another purpose of the invention is to provide a device of the character mentioned which will be simple, durable, and easily applied to the stairs and which is capable of firmly holding the carpet in place without injuring it and of being conveniently reached and quickly operated when the carpet is to be secured in position or is to be removed from the stairs.

The invention consists in the novel construction and combination of the several parts, as will be hereinafter fully set forth, and pointed out in the claims.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, in which similar characters of reference indicate correspondingparts in all the figures.

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a portion of a staircase and the improved device applied thereto and to a carpet, a portion of the carpet being broken away. Fig. 2is a side elevation of a portion of a step'and a riser, an edge view of a portion of a carpet for said parts, and an end view of the device applied. Fig. 3 is afront elevation of a portion of the device detached, and Fig. 4 is a perspective view of a portion of a slightly-modified form of the device.

The invention consists of a stair-rod A and locking devices B for the rod. The rod is" made in two longitudinally-opposing and independent sections a and a. The section Ct -is adapted to be screwed or otherwise fastened upon the step 0 adjacent to and parallel with the riser D and comprises a fiat member 10 and a member 11, which is up- Serial No. 116,523. (No model.)

wardly inclined and more or less curved from the inner longitudinal edge of the fiat member, so that the inner longitudinal edge of the inclined member faces the riser D, as is shown in Fig. 1. The upper section a of the stairrod is adapted to have vertical movement on the riser D and the same movement relative to thefixed section a, and said movable section a comprises a vertical member 12, adapted to lie fiat against the riser D, and a lower member 13, which extends downwardly and outwardly from the lower edge of the mem- -ber12,-and the lower edge 14 of the inclined member 13 is more or less inwardly curved, as is shown in Figs. 1 and 2.

The locking device B for the stair-rod A comprises mainly a cam 15 and a handle 16 for the same. The cam is in the shape of a disk eccentrically mounted by means of the pivot-pin 17 on the riser D, so that the cam as it is turned in one direction will have depressing engagement with the forwardly-inclined member 13 of the movable rod-section a and force the same downward to the step 0, the upper member 12 of the said rod-section a being back of the cam and out of engagement therewith, as is shown in Fig. 2, and to accomplish such a result the pivotpin 17 is passed also through a spacing-block 18, located between the cam and the riser.

Two locking devices B are employed for each stair-rod A, one near each end of a rod, as is shown in Fig 1, and ordinarily the looking devices are mounted as described, and the upper member 12 of the movable rod-section 0/. extends from end to end of-the curved or clamping member 13 of said section, as is also shown in Fig. 1; but, if desired, the movable section a of the rod may be constructed as is shown in Fig.4. Under such construction the movable section a consists of a plate or bar member 12 and vertical and bracket members 12", having transverse grooves 12 in their front faces near the bottom to receive the ends of the members 12f, tapering lower ends 12 to rest upon the step, and shelf projections 12 at the bottom walls of the recesses or grooves 12,together with forwardlyextending flanges-19 at the upper ends of said bracket members. Each bracket member 12 is provided with a vertical slot 20, and the pivot-pins 17 of the cams 15 are loosely passed through the slots, whereby to raise and lower the movable sections a without interfering with the cams, the cams being below and in engagement with the flanges 19 and having bearing upon the shelf projections 12.

In operation the rods A and the locking devices B are placed in position on the steps and the risers, the cams being turned, as shown in Fig. 3, to bring their minor depressing-surfaces downward, thus permitting the movable sections a of the rods to be carried upward, providing a considerable space between the two sections of the rods. The staircarpet E is now laid upon the steps and at each step the movable section of a rod is raised and the carpet is transversely folded to make a rearwardly-extending loop 21, which loop is passed down into the space between the sections of the stair-rod and under one section, and the cams are then turned to bring their major depressing-surfaces downward, whereby to force the movable sections a, of the rod downward, causing the one rodsection to pinch the loop in the carpet upon the step, as between two jaws, while the cams when released hold the rod-sections in their clamping or pinching engagement with the carpet. Thus the carpet will be held tightly in position on the stairs and the rods and locking devices will be concealed, and owing to the formation of the clamping edges of the rod-sections the carpet will not be injured when it is held by the device.

Having thus described our invention, we

claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent-- 1. A stair-rod constructed in two longitudinal sections having opposing clamping-surfaces, one of said sections being adapted to be fixed and the other vertically movable to and r from the fixed section and a mechanism for adjusting the movable section in direction of the fixed section and maintaining such section in adjusted position, as described.

2. A stair-rod consisting of a fixed and a movable section,and cam depressing and looking devices 'for the movable section of the rod, as specified. I

3. The combination with a stair-rod constructed in two longitudinal sections, one adapted to be fixed and the other vertically movable to and from the fixed section, the inner longitudinal edge of the fixed section being upwardly inclined and the opposing lower edge of the movable section curved from the inclined edge of the fixed section, of cams located over the movable sections and having bearing thereon, and means for pivoting the said cams, whereby the staircarpet is received between the longitudinal sections of the rod and held clamped by the action of the cams, and the rod and cams are concealed by the carpet, as described.

4. The combination with a stair-rod comprising two longitudinal sections having op- ISAAC v. MEAD. JOHN w. GIBSON.

\Vitnesses:

JOHN ONEILL, ALBERT HANKINSON. 

